Not only did I attend this show ( 1 of hundreds ), if you recall someone standing on the top row of the bleachers and throwing hundreds of tickets to the waiting crowd outside the venue, that was me. I also printed up a small poster from the Whole Earth Catalog which explained how the Grateful Dead got their name.
" We now return our souls to the creator and as we stand on the edge of eternal darkness, let our chant fill the void,that others may know: In the land of the night, the ship of the sun is drawn by the Grateful Dead"

I was there down front. Jerry broke a string right after the first chorus of Rider so Phil took over playing lead bass and then stepped up to belt out a solo "Sun Don't Shine" part in glorious Phil fashion. This show was also noteworthy for Bobby rushing to the mic after the encore and saying, "Next time all new stuff." "Next time" was in Dec. at the Felt Forum where they broke out Jack Straw and a bunch of other "new" tunes.

What a wonderful surprise to find this show in the Archive. It was my first GD show. I was seventeen years old and had just gotten my drivers license. Drove to the Bronx from out on Long Island with a station wagon full of very buzzed friends. In fact, I was so high that I parked in NYC Metro bus stop. Amazingly, the car was still there after the show… with a big ticket on the windshield. I don’t remember much detail from the show, but I was a fan for life on walking out. Last show was just a few months before Jerry died, February 21 1995 in Salt Lake City. I feel rightly privileged to have seen all the members of the band in various iterations over the years.

Why are people grading shows trying to influence another person's listening experience? It's always purely subjective. The person grading does lots of B- / C+ on the same show other people are raving about in their reviews. Please stop. Just listen and highlight the highlights. It's much more fun and no one really needs to be influenced before listening. Just my opinion without trying to sound grumpy.

This show has some history attached. It was the only show at this venue - the next 16 NYC shows were at the Felt Forum or Academy of Music, in Manhattan, and in Jersey City. This was the last show before rehearsals with Keith and the last Pig show until December (he spent much of this time in hospital). This is a makeup show from 7/30, and they had to make the trip east for a single gig. This was at the Gaelic Sports Centre in Kingsbridge, Bronx, NYC - briefly a rock venue. It's in the northernmost part of the city, right next to Manhattan College [who were the promoters] and Van Cortland Park. What are the "gaelic sports" for which it was designed? That would be: Gaelic Football [nope, not soccer], Rounders [nope,not baseball], Camogie and Hurling [nope, not the college party version]. Plus the field was used by the college. It's right on 240th, so people on the street could hear/see the show, and apparently people stood on the adjacent trains platform [here elevated at the northern terminal] - back before things like that earned a $300 dollar ticket and/or thousands in attorney fees, because society wasn't so policed. The band likely took the booking because the Fillmore East had just closed.

They didn't know it, but this would be the last show for the original five members. Admittedly, by 8/71 Pig wasn't a focus as much. He would wander on and offstage for congas and other percussion at this time, rather than just manning the organ. This was sold out at 15,000 - maybe the delayed date helped. The show was partially traded, bitd of B&P, because of the WBAI broadcast. Phil apparently said, during a tuning, that this was the last time they were going to do a single show like this [anyway, Sam Cutler put an end to the zigzagging]. They added two Chicago shows, but trucking across the continent for one college show surely lost them money (the crew had to cross the country twice in a month). It had been rescheduled after the equipment truck had an accident leaving California. The show started before many even got in, because there was rain forecast. It did drizzle by the end. The Sugar Mag is sometimes noted, but probably not as often as the historical interest; at any rate there's more going on here.

First Set. It's the solid pulse that sells this Bertha. Excellent launch. Playin' is rote but you might really get off on Bobby's rhythm backing Pig's Mr. Charlie. Sugaree is just now improving - in time for the Keith injection. El Paso is tight but flat-ish. After the two Bigs comes yet another classic Hard to Handle from Aug. '71, and the final one, as Pig opted not to break it out when he played the east coast in Dec and then E72. There's some iffy tape qual here (and you need the AUD for the beginning), but it winds up to a superb jam. Even if not the best of the month, it's still a hot send-off and the Weinberg AUD is impressive here. Beat it on Down the Line-6 doesn't hold a candle to the April versions but Sugar Magnolia is frequently noted. What makes it? Classic Jer snarl and Pigpen on güiro! Pig then does his Empty Pages - the second one and the last. It's better than 8/24, though it would never have the chance to fully develop. An average Good Lovin' starts in mono and Casey ends the set.

Second Set. This is like the usual 2nd set but with a few extra songs tacked onto the front. The first 8sec of Me & My Uncle are AUD-only. All of the versions of China Cat in August '71 are fine, though this Rider has issues. Jer's guitar disappears, then the vox, so Bobby sings the northbound train (a pro, Jer always played through a broken string, so there's a different issue). The problem fixed, they go through a few average '71 versions and just the briefest of Drums before The Other One. It easily slides way out, including psychedelic terror @8:30! You must hear this once. I'm not sure what waltz Jer plays in this tuning because several use this melody [like Bill Monroe's Mighty Pretty Waltz], but they played a longer version on 4/8/71. Then it's a brief Spring Song before flâneurs of Next Time & Bobby McGee. You can hear Pigpen playing the claves for Uncle John's. It starts brisk but the tempo gets slower and slower. Nice tight finish though, and gets you ready for a fabulous sequence starting with Saint Stephen. Then you score a couple keen jam sections in Not Fade when you playback it. Goin' Down the Road gifts with alacrity and Pig returns to the stage for the NFA reprise. After a long break (supposedly over half an hour), Johnny B. Goode sends them onto 240th happy.

1st Set:  B-
2nd Set: C+
Overall = 3¼ stars

Highlights:
Bertha - solid pulse
Hard to Handle - final Pig classic; great send-off
Sugar Magnolia - oft-noted version, Pig güiro
Empty Pages - best version
Saint Stephen>Not Fade Away>Goin' Down the Road Feeling Bad - show's best sequence

SOURCES: The miller-rolfe_32351 is the patched and levelled SBD. The best copy of the famous Marty Weinberg AUD is sirmick_35374. Both AUDs and SBDs have cut the long tunings.

Like many of the youngin's, who never got to hear Jerry live, I never got to hear PigPen live. I can only dream.

I love everything about this tape.

And I don't know if it was me, Memorex, or what, but did I hear a Harley towards the end of Love Not Fade Away? Otherwise, the drummers are kicking royal A**!!!

The Pigpen numbers rip the most.
Bertha, Cumberland and Truckin' are solid.

first dead show i taped so it occupies a very special place in my heart. literally wore out the tape. the "hard to handle" is the 1st set highlight. hot, hot jam. bob sings the headlight part in "rider" because jerry broke a string and was changing it himself. someone mentioned that pigpen left the show after "next time you see me." after a rockin first set, he didn't do much in the second but did return for the "not fade away" reprise.

If it could be recorded and quantified, every show had thousands of intriguing little side stories that could shed light or reveal nuance on all things TGD. I'm reading the autobiography of Ace Frehley (KISS) who consistently was able to work his way backstage at concerts as a young man and encountered various well known rock stars. This was the one and only Dead show he attended. Managed to get backstage and had a chance conversation with Jerry....

"I don't remember the exact details of my meeting with Jerry; instead I recall dreamlike bits and pieces of a trippy conversation. I can hear myself asking Jerry, 'How's it going, man?' And I can see him standing there, smiling through that beard.
'Good, man, good. We're taking it to the people tonight.'
I think I might have thrown a 'Right on, brother' back at him.
Jerry was exactly as advertised: a laid-back hippie who seemed less like a rock star than a guy you'd see strumming his guitar outside a subway station, case open, bumming for quarters. He was a god at the time, but you'd never have known it by watching him. Even onstage he was content to just stand there and jam, his demeanor no different in front of 10,000 fans (or 100,000) than it was when he played in Bay Area coffeehouses. You had to admire that about him. The guy was genuine."

Ace Frehley, "No Regrets: A Rock n' Roll Memoir" (NY: Simon & Schuster, 2011) 53-54.

Hard to Handle is on fire. Just incredible! Also great versions of Other One, China Cat, NFA/GDTRFB/NFA. 1971 was an epic year, one of my favorites-just behind '74 and '77.
I was at Gaelic Park in early 70s. Saw Yes and J.Giels band (yes strange twin bill). It was a rundown Irish football stadium that had a chain link fence up by the stage. The dead musta blew the heads out this night -fer' sure

The Hard To Handle alone is worth the price of admission. Pigpen really shines in the first set, with 5 out of 14 songs; the same as Jerry and one more than Bob!

This is also the first time I've heard Weir, not Garcia, sing "wish I was a headlight..." (Rider).

And the 'Miracle of Saint Stephen'! Love it!

but...

What is the purpose of segregating 14 seconds of drums and making it a separate track? It should be part of The Other One.

This was our second show. We got on the bus at The Yale Bowl that July, had our epiphany there when Pig did H2H. Gaelic Park just cemented us into the scene, and we're still riding(seeing DSO on Fri, Crazy Fingers on Sat. & Sun.). As I recall, "Park" is a misnomer. This was an open dirt field, that the Dead filled with glorious music (Empty Pages, St. Stephen). Had our first psychedelic experience when we drank from a wine skin passed to us (didn't know what hit us until we intentionally repeated the experience). This led to an interesting drive home to Brooklyn-we somehow wound up crossing the George Washington Bridge into NJ! Another friend, Steve, went to his car after the show, only to discover his spark plugs had been stolen, so the Bronx was not kind to us, except musically. 5 Stars for the adventure!

Of course, in those days we all forgot a lot more than we remembered. I remember a bunch of crazies dancing on the roof's of the cars parked on the street next to the field during a long sound check on the afternoon of the show. I remember it being a damn good party. I remember witnessing the "Miracle of St. Stephen". During the 2nd set, one of our friends was in the process of having a bad LSD experience. Then St. Stephen started, and he immediately snapped out of it, and returned to normal, or at least normal under the circumstances.
Listening to this show reminds me of why I used to go to Dead shows.

Pigpen must have felt comfortable in the Bronx!

There are some issues with this mix and some other sonic anomalies (tape warble), and the playing is ragged at times, but what do you expect? Its the Bronx for chrisakes! You think they were going to play a beautiful Dark Star with elevated trains going by?

However, this is show is packed with some stunning highlights:

It's Pigs last show until December, and he shines! The Empty Pages is just unreal! H2H is simply dynamite, as is the first set Good Lovin'. The entire second set rocks!

I don't know whether this show is underated or over-hyped, but judging by the crackling energy more prevalent on the audience source, it must have been fun! (96 pts)

only got through the first set, will come back for the second but sounds like a great start to a classic 71 show, lot of good pig songs in the first set here, good lovin is great wow so different from how it was played without pig, love the first set song selection all played up to par

Man, I'm just sitting here playing a game, giving the neighbors a real good taste of this show, when suddenly out of no where that hard to handle got me up out of my seat and I started stompin my feet. Suddenly I was back in 71 found myself somewhere in NY. dancing like a cool fool. It was great!!

Pig was gone after this show until 12/1 then he played until june 72. Ive been listening to a lot of 80's recently and hearing this is just completely different. Awesome

the first stella blue was indeed at Pigpens last show on 6/17/72 in which he played organ on. wish a good SBD would surface of this show. but the first Mississippi half-step was performed at Dillon stadium in Hartford CT on 7/16/72. theres a so-so SBD of this shows 2nd set with an AUD 1st set floating around on here.

as for this show.....pretty hot playing, great song selection. what more could you ask for? except for maybe a tiny tiny bit less hiss but im not complaining. it mostly seems to dissapear once i burn the show to cd an listen to it on my home stereo system for some reason. no idea why.

peaceee

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Charlie's version of this show is far superior to the other version listed on the IA, see below:

http://www.archive.org/details/gd71-08-26.sbd.dopey.1559.sbeok.shnf

There is a new verison of the August 6, 1971 show on the IA and it sounds fantastic. Check it out, if it hasn't been yanked yet:

http://www.archive.org/details/gd1971-08-06.mtx.chappell.97015.flac16

1971 is a precious year, it's nice to see these shows sounding so good. Keep up the good work. 1971 is a GOLD MINE.

All the shows from 1971 should undergo a complete 'facelift' audio speaking. 1971 is worth all the work it takes to make these shows sound new.

I highly recommend clicking on Charlie Miller's name and collecting all his GRATEFUL DEAD shows, he has impeccable taste.

Thank you Mr. Miller...

Eat, Drink, Be Merry and Listen to the GRATEFUL DEAD.

Thanks for the LOVE from 1971.

Not sure where you got that info from. 6/17/72 Hollywood Bowl is his last show. Also first 1/2 Step and Stella.

Can't comment much on this source except to say it's mostly solid and from Charlie Miller so I imagine the quality is strong throughout.I can say emphatically that this is a criminally underrated show. Incredible versions abound throughout. For perspective's sake, 8/6/71 is one of the finest Audience recordings in music history, has a fun bertha and a great H2H. This Bertha is easily its equal and for my money, much better, aside from those 2 songs, 8/6 is like minor league ball compared with this show.

Much love for 8/6 but as one of the most dl'd and reviewed shows on archive it seemed a good comparison to make. Point being, don't miss out on this show.

Must have been his ghost (Pigpen's) that toured Europe in '72 - "Mr Charlie", "Hurts Me Too", and so many more ........... Thanks Pig - gone but never forgotten.

This was Pigpens last show... 19 months later march 8 1973 he died